How does Service 1st Benefits support my business during open enrollment?

We personally manage the entire open enrollment process — from educating employees to handling enrollment forms and answering plan questions. Our goal is to make open enrollment smooth and stress-free for everyone.

Can employees contact you directly for help?

Yes. Employees can reach out to us anytime for questions about claims, coverage, ID cards, or plan details. We act as your team’s benefits partner, not just your broker.

What size businesses do you work with?

We specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, typically ranging from 1–200 employees. If you’re growing or planning to expand, we help scale your benefits as your team grows.

Do you handle communication with insurance carriers for us?

Absolutely. We take care of claims issues, employee changes, renewals, and any carrier communication so you don’t have to spend hours on hold.

Do you offer voluntary or supplemental benefits?

Yes. We can provide optional add-ons like disability, accident, or critical illness insurance to enhance your benefits package at little or no cost to the employer.

What types of group benefits do you offer?

We provide comprehensive group health, dental, vision, and life insurance options for small and medium-sized businesses. We help you compare plans, handle enrollment, and manage carrier communication.

What information do you need to provide a quote?

We typically need: Number of employees Basic employee census (age, gender, ZIP code) Current plan (if applicable) Desired benefits or coverage goals We keep the process as simple as possible.

Do you charge fees for your services?

No. Our services — including plan comparison, open enrollment, and year-round support — are provided at no additional cost to your business.

Why Two Employees on the Same Plan Can Pay Different Premiums

Service 1st Benefits

2 days ago

2 min read

Same employer, same plan, same coverage tier — and still two different premiums. It's not a mistake. Here's what's actually allowed to cause that gap.

Only Four Factors Are Allowed to Affect Your Rate

Small-group health insurance rules restrict insurers to exactly four rating factors: geographic area, age, family size, and tobacco use. That's the entire list. Health history, past claims, industry, gender, and group size are all prohibited from affecting what any individual employee pays.

Age Is the Big One

Age is rated in one-year bands from 21 to 63, with the rate increasing at each band. Everyone 64 and older is charged the same flat rate regardless of exact age. The total spread is capped at a 3:1 ratio — the oldest adult on a plan can be charged at most three times what the youngest adult pays for identical coverage.

Tobacco Use Can Add Up to 50%

If a plan applies a tobacco rating factor, it can raise a tobacco user's premium by up to 1.5 times what a non-user pays for the same coverage — a 50% surcharge, and the single largest factor-driven gap outside of age itself.

What Isn't Allowed to Move the Needle

This is worth knowing as much as what is allowed: an insurer can't charge one employee more because of their health history, because they filed more claims last year, because of their gender, or because of which industry the employer is in. Those factors simply aren't part of the small-group rating formula.

Why This Actually Matters

If two coworkers on the identical plan and tier compare premiums and see a real difference, it's not a billing error and it's not based on anything about their health — it's almost always age, and sometimes tobacco use, doing exactly what the rating rules allow them to do.

Final Thoughts

Two people, same plan, different price — it looks confusing until you know there are only four things legally allowed to cause that gap, and age is doing most of the work. Everything else people assume might be behind it (health, claims, even the industry they work in) legally isn't.